Loss
of professor leaves hole in campus department
By
Lindsay Wood
On-line Forty-Niner
Recovering
will not be an easy task for the marketing
department or many of its students who are
both shocked and saddened by the unexpected
passing of professor Robert Welch.
Welch
was taken to Saint Mary's Hospital in Long
Beach Sunday evening, September 28 after
suffering from a massive brain hemorrhage.
Welch was declared brain dead by doctors
and passed away Monday, September 29, however
he remained in the hospital until Tuesday
after being placed on life support in order
to allow many of his family and friends
time to say their final words and maintain
his organs so they could be donated.
The
unexpected passing of Welch has not only
left a hole in faculty and students' hearts,
but it has also left a hole in the marketing
department. Welch was teaching five classes
this fall semester in international marketing,
new products new services, mass marketing
communications, promotion strategies and
introductory marketing.
Without
being prepared for something like this to
happen, and having no other professors lined
up to take over his classes, the marketing
department has been under a lot of stress
to find replacements for all of Welch's
classes.
"We've
really had to pull together," said
Ingrid Martin, co-worker and marketing professor,
"he was an asset to the department."
And professor Terry Witkowski said that
this has all been "very disturbing,"
however, they are "picking up where
he left off."
But
other than just covering the classes and
finding new professors as great as Welch,
the marketing department as well as anyone
who knew him must deal with the loss of
his physical presence.
For
many this is the hardest part of all. It
is not easy for anyone to get used to how
it feels when someone you see and talk to
everyday is no longer around.
Suzanne
Scholz, a fellow lecturer in the marketing
department said "It's like a cloud
of sadness is over us." A man described
as an "early bird," who always
had his office door open is no longer the
first to arrive in the mornings and his
office door no longer remains open.
Students
have also been affected by the loss of Welch.
Henry Ngo had Welch for International Marketing
and was just one of the many students who
were in disbelief after his death. Ngo described
Welch as a "happy guy, who just always
seemed happy." He also said that Welch
was "well-liked by all the students
he knew," and that Welch talked about
being an "open-minded person who values
life." However what Ngo feels stood
out most about Welch is that "he was
more than just a professor, he was also
a mentor."
Perhaps
it was how much the students loved him that
made him enjoy coming to work each day but
"being in class and with students is
what he loved, he was student-centered"
Scholz said.
Welch
was hired at Cal State Long Beach in August
of 1998. Professor Robert "Bob"
Welch was 60 years old and is survived by
his three daughters, Kristin Supancich,
33, Alison George, 29, and Stephanie Welch,
28.
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